1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of speech processing and Web 2.0 technologies and, more particularly, to integrating a voice browser in a Web 2.0 environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice response systems utilize a voice user interface to interact with users, such as interacting via a telephone. Many of these voice response systems include a voice browser or voice interpreter which processes voice markup, such as VoiceXML. The voice markup specifies speech processing actions which are to be performed by speech processing engines. The engines are often turn-based engines integrated into a networked speech processing system. For example, middleware solutions, such as IBM's WEBSPHERE, often include speech processing resources and a linked voice browser which provide speech processing capabilities to one or more voice response systems. Use of speech processing capabilities has traditionally required creation of specialized software routines that use a voice toolkit to interact with a networked speech processing system. Coding this specialized software requires programming skills beyond the expertise level of many software developers and most end users.
The complexity of creating interfaces to networked speech processing systems has prevented speech capabilities from entering many important software market segments. One of the more important segments that currently is devoid of speech processing capabilities is the Web 2.0 market. Web 2.0 refers to a set of Web applications/sites that promote collaboration and information sharing among large groups of users. A fundamental Web 2.0 principle is to grant end-users an ability to read, write, and update existing Web 2.0 content, actions traditionally restricted to software developers. Additionally, Web 2.0 applications often depend upon the collaborative effort of end-users to provide new content and revise existing content. Different types of Web 2.0 applications include WIKIs, BLOGs, FOLKSONIMIES, social networking sites, and the like.
What is needed is a solution through which voice browsers can be integrated into a Web 2.0 environment, such that Web 2.0 content providers (e.g., end-users) will be able to create and modify speech-enabled content. This would permit Web 2.0 content to be accessible from non-traditional clients, such as a telephone. An ideal solution would also permit Web 2.0 content providers and/or users to customize speech-processing behavior of speech-enabled Web 2.0 applications. For example, a Web 2.0 user or content provider would preferably be able to customize characteristics of a speech synthesis voice and/or a speech recognition system integrated with the Web 2.0 environment. Conventional voice browser implementations typically reside in proprietary systems that are not accessible or modifiable by end users.